


The Remedy For Wrongs Is To Forget Them

by liseuse



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling, Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-31
Updated: 2010-05-31
Packaged: 2017-10-09 20:04:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/91037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liseuse/pseuds/liseuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things always seem to go wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Remedy For Wrongs Is To Forget Them

**Author's Note:**

> This was a help_haiti fic, and the beta was done wonderfully by pale_moonlite and rose71

**9.30 a.m., Monday 18th May.**

 

'This does not look like Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.' Ginny flicked her coat to get rid of some dust, and looked around disdainfully. 'There isn't enough sea, for one thing, and there are far too many buildings.'

'I can smell the sea,' Pansy offered. 'So there is some salt water around here somewhere. Amidst the very tall buildings. Which would, I admit, be a little out of place in a small seaside town in Northumberland.'

Hermione Apparated next to Pansy with a muffled click. 'Oh,' she said as she looked around, and took in the office buildings and distinct lack of visible beach. 'Drat.'

**10.15 a.m., Monday 18th May.**

 

'It seems,' Pansy said as she warmed her hands on a cup of coffee, 'that 'drat' was the correct response to our situation. This is most definitely not Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, which means that we are nowhere near the caves we are supposed to be investigating, and that something has gone horribly horribly wrong.'

'Wrong is not quite the word.' Ginny's face had a thousand pictures painted on it, and not a one of them was happy. 'We have, somehow, ended up in Cardiff. Cardiff in Wales. Cardiff in Wales which is about three hundred miles away from where we are supposed to be.'

**9.40 a.m., Monday 18th May.**

 

'Jack,' Gwen called. 'Come here.' She pulled up a larger version of the graph that had made her frown, and, as a second thought, sent it to Owen and Ianto as well.

'Oh goodie,' Jack drawled. 'Only nine thirty in the morning and we already have an emergency. What is it this time? Bloodsucking aliens or deceptively fluffy rabbits that turn out to be possessed?'

'It's the rift,' Tosh said as she flicked through a variety of open windows until she found the right one. 'It's been flickering with activity for the past few days, but nothing too strong, so it hasn't been activated. But something just happened. The rift is open and active, but, well, listen.'

'Listen to what? I can't hear anything,' Jack said, looking around.

'Precisely,' Gwen said. 'Oh come on boys, since when has the rift activated and not set off that horrible siren? Something triggers it, it gets panicky, the alarm sounds and we set off. But not today apparently.'

**10.15 a.m., Monday 18th May.**

 

'You got me out of bed, on my day off, because the rift hasn't made the alarm go off.' Owen raised an eyebrow at Gwen and then at Tosh.

'Yes.' Tosh shrugged, slightly apologetically. 'Not just you though. We dragged Ianto in as well.'

'Yeah, cause teaboy here will have had so many exciting plans for this fine spring day.' Owen slouched down in his chair. 'Like ironing, and ringing his mother. Me? I had plans. I was going to get slaughtered and watch the match.'

'I'm sorry to spoil your fun, Owen.' Jack smiled as he sat down. 'Who knows, this might be nothing and I might get be able to get back to helping Ianto with the ironing. Tosh, any thoughts?'

Tosh stood up, and pointed to the first spike on the graph. 'Well, here is the first spike. It occurred about a week ago, and we thought it was just excess energy being dissipated. The same for the second and third. There were no visible ramifications from the spikes, and no alarm. The fourth spike is where it gets interesting. That's this morning. The spike is much bigger, so the amount of energy being passed through the rift is higher. But it hasn't registered as anything. Not dangerous, not benign, not something we know and have logged. Just, nothing.'

**11.30 a.m., Monday 18th May.**

 

Hermione looked up, briefly, from her notebook to see Ginny staring over her shoulder. 'What are you looking at?' Hermione said, sounding a little puzzled as she swivelled slightly to try and gauge where Ginny was looking.

'I'm admiring Pansy.' Ginny sounded a little awestruck. 'I don't think she even works at being charming.'

Hermione laughed and put down her pen. 'She doesn't. It just comes naturally. It's astounding really.'

'What's astounding?' Pansy asked as she dropped into a chair. 'The fact that it is May and I wish I had another three layers on? Or the fact that we appear to have ended up in a place full of things that people don't want to talk about?'

Ginny grinned, and pushed a cup of tea over the table towards Pansy. 'Both of those things are astounding, but that's not what we were talking about. We were bemused by how charming you can be when you want to be.'

'Ah.' Pansy took a sip of her tea, made a face and looked around carefully. 'It all comes of having to pretend to be polite and a little bit dim as a child,' she said as she flicked her wand. 'Little pitchers have big ears, and the parents of little pitchers like talking about serious important matters. So little pitchers get sent to have tea in the nursery. Which is where they learn to be charming and subtle, because then they can get information out of their governess.' She took a sip of her tea and smiled. 'Much better.'

Hermione shook her head. 'Magic in public places. I really should report you.'

'You're not going to, though,' Pansy said, reaching over the table for Hermione's tea cup. 'Because you don't think this cup of tea is anything other than midge water either.'

'It is dismal tea,' Ginny said mournfully. 'The biscuits are good though.'

'Okay,' Hermione said decisively, after taking a sip of her improved cup of tea. 'Enough about biscuits. And tea. We have somehow ended up in Cardiff. Which is not where we were intended to be. But, as we are all excellent Apparators, something strange has obviously occurred. Pansy, did you learn anything from the man at the bar?'

Pansy pushed her sleeves up, and cleared a space on the table. 'Yes and no. No because he had absolutely nothing concrete to tell me, but yes because what he was avoiding telling me sounded very interesting. It seems that this city is somewhat of a hub for strange events. People appearing out of nowhere, the weather behaving strangely, unexplained chaos.'

Ginny thought for a moment and then bounced a little in her seat. 'I've just remembered something. You all recall that report that Susan submitted a couple of months ago? The one that she was told was entirely too fantastical and ridiculous to be taken seriously, and that she had to be checked out at St. Mungo's for, in case she'd flown off her rocker?'

'Yes?' Pansy said a little peevishly. 'It led to that terrible training day where we were all told how to write our reports and not be led astray by whimsy. I have seldom been so bored.'

'Well, yes.' Ginny admitted. 'But, that's not why I thought of it. Her report was about an incident in Cardiff. She'd been summoned by the Welsh division of the Ministry because they were having lots of unexplainable events, and they'd heard about her nose for curiosities.'

'Of course!' Hermione exclaimed. 'And when she got here she found that either people wouldn't talk about anything, or that it was as if they couldn't. Everyone had noticed strange things happening, but no one could give any details.'

'Like the man at the bar,' Pansy said thoughtfully. 'Right, we need to get in touch with Susan. Do either of you know anyone in Wales?'

**11.30 a.m., Monday 18th May.**

 

'This is pointless,' Owen said, pushing his chair back from the table. 'All we know is that the rift had a spike, there's nothing going on in the city, and we have no clue what might have caused it.'

'That would seem to be an excellent summary of the situation, yes.' Ianto smiled tightly. 'On the plus side I have just beaten you at yet another game of cards. You owe me your car.'

'Fuck off. I'm not giving you my car,' Owen said as he frowned at his cards. 'Bugger.'

'Tosh,' Gwen called from her desk. 'Could you come and look at this? I don't know what it means exactly, but it looks like it might be helpful.'

'Coming,' Tosh said as she pushed through the door with another mug of coffee. 'Oh,' she said thoughtfully as she leaned over Gwen's desk. 'Now that is interesting. Ianto, could you get Jack? I think he might want to see this.'

 

**1.30 p.m. Monday 18th May.**

 

'Right,' Jack said, turning around to face the back seat. 'We all know what we're about to be dealing with. We all know what we are and are not supposed to be doing. And we know how we are going to approach this?'

'Yes, Jack.' Gwen raised an eyebrow at Tosh as they all chorused an answer. 'Sometimes I think you have very low expectations of us.'

Jack snorted. 'I do sweetcheeks, I do. Just, be careful. The report Tosh found was not positive about what we are about to face. It indicated that there was the potential for this to be extremely dangerous and that the people we are going up against know their business. So just stay safe, okay. I don't want any unnecessary paperwork to deal with.'

'For fuck's sake,' Owen exclaimed. 'It's a bunch of people waving sticks of wood around and chanting a load of mumbo jumbo. How dangerous can they be?'

Jack smiled. 'Oh Owen, you have no idea.'

**2.00 p.m. Monday 18th May.**

 

Ginny turned around, slowly surveying their position. She sent a couple of sparks towards each quarter of the compass, and nodded as they hit their position. 'Right. I've done everything I can think of. Let's just hope that Dean's information was reliable.'

Hermione smiled tightly. 'It normally is. But then this situation isn't exactly normal. I think I'd rather be back in Penrith facing those idiots from last month right now.'

'Do not be ridiculous,' Pansy said as she edged her way across the ground towards Hermione. 'I ruined two perfectly good pairs of shoes that weekend. And that dress will never be the same. I don't care what the dry cleaner said. I will know there is blood in the fabric somewhere.'

Hermione laughed involuntarily. 'Of course you are concerned about the dress. Not about the fact we had to have your shoulder patched up by the field witch and then mended in the hospital. That is, most definitely, the least of your concerns about that weekend.'

Pansy smiled gently, and took Hermione's hand. 'I'm fine. I wasn't badly hurt. And no one is going to get hurt today. Dean's intelligence suggests that these people are perhaps idiots and a little insane, but not that they are actively dangerous. Susan's report backs that up. I think the most danger we are going to end up in is when we have to face the wrath of Madam Penhaligon for digging that report out of the archive.'

**2.15 p.m. Monday 18th May.**

 

'Ladies.' Jack advanced towards Hermione, Ginny and Pansy. 'Welcome to Cardiff.'

Pansy stepped forward. 'It's really not a pleasure.' She looked over Jack's shoulder and raised her voice a little. 'You lot can stop trying to lurk unobtrusively. You look like sixteen-year olds hanging out in a carpark with the intention of buying drugs.'

'Well. You're a feisty one,' Owen said as he pushed himself off the car and walked up to stand next to Jack. 'Been a while since someone talked back to us. Usually we're too busy shooting them.'

'Oh do be quiet, Owen,' Tosh said as she handed him a bag. 'Good afternoon.'

'Hi.' Ginny waved. 'Nice to meet you. And in such lovely surroundings.'

Pansy huffed impatiently. 'Look, can we just cut to the chase? For some reason our presence in your city is interesting to you, and you keep cropping up in our reports. Even though we are not supposed to even be here, it would be nice, I suppose, to work out why we are.'

'Let's start with how you're here,' Tosh said as she pulled a small hand-held device out of her bag. 'Because whatever mode of transportation you used caused the rift to spike. But not to alarm. So it obviously doesn't think you're a danger to the city, but it does mean that you caused something to go awry in the energy field.'

'It's called Apparition,' Hermione said as she walked towards where Owen and Tosh were standing. 'It's a way of moving from point to point by visualising the point you want to end up at. Only it didn't work properly today. We were supposed to end up in Northumberland, but something drew us all here instead.'

'Apparition.' Gwen turned to Ianto. 'Why does that ring a bell? Where in those reports did we see that?'

Ianto frowned. 'I can't remember. Give me a minute.' He turned and started to walk back to the car.

Jack folded his arms. 'Apparition? Only it didn't work? How convenient. So why do you think you were drawn here?'

Ginny raised an eyebrow. 'We don't know, right now. But it wasn't to be condescended at by overgrown boys who like to play soldiers. Look, we're capable and efficient investigators, and there has to be a reason that all three of us ended up off course. The last time anything like this happened there was a big war going on in our world, and people got thrown off their Apparition route by big magic usage occurring somewhere else.' Looking around her, she made a disappointed noise. 'I'm about to break a rule. Because I'm bored of standing up.' With a flick of her wand Ginny turned a nearby bollard into a chair. 'The thing is that big magic usage like that tends to leave traces. Either a smell in the air, or something going on that no one can explain. Curious blanks in memory, or children who swear they saw something. And we haven't noticed anything like that here.'

'We have,' Hermione interjected. 'Just on a bigger scale. Every single person we've spoken to has said that odd things happen here all the time, but then they can't give us any details.'

'Looks like the dampener's working,' Owen muttered, and shifted his weight. 'Any chance of conjuring me a chair, Red?'

'The name is Ginny. And no.' Ginny smiled tightly. 'What dampener?'

**4.30 p.m. Monday 18th May.**

 

'Right,' Pansy said as she looked down at her notes, 'let me see if I have this right. This entire city is built on a rift and strange things come through it on a regular basis. Which means that weird things happen with a greater frequency than to be expected here. And the human brain has trouble processing it. So you invented a dampener that would stop people remembering what went on?'

'Yes,' Tosh said. 'As a précis that is remarkably apt.' She pulled up a chart on the screen. 'Look, here is the average of rift activity last April, which was a fairly quiet month, actually. And here is the average for people reporting to the hospitals having seen something, or heard something, and being worried about it.'

Owen leaned forward. 'We figured we had to do something. See, we get there, we sort it out and we go home. But it was causing problems. So we had a rummage around and in one of the old store rooms we found a cerebral dampener. We plugged it into the rift, we set it to a low level, and then when we next compared the charts there were less people reporting to the police or the hospitals thinking they were going crazy.'

'Huh,' Hermione said thoughtfully. 'That's not a bad idea actually.'

Pansy stared at her. 'I thought you would have been shocked and appalled by the very idea of it.'

'I did too,' Hermione said. 'But think of the damage that can be done with repeated Obliviation. If it isn't done carefully and sparingly you can end up destroying too much memory. Plus, no one has ever been able to test it properly on Muggles.'

'She has a point,' Ginny said as she flicked through the pages of Tosh's report. 'It's great as a one off thing, but it is really dangerous. Mind, we'd have to have a dampener like this over the entire country, the rate that we keep having to Obliviate members of the Muggle public right now.' Seeing Tosh's puzzled look, Ginny shrugged slightly apologetically. 'Some of the rules about Muggle-Wizarding interaction have been relaxed, which means that Muggles are seeing more magic, and, on occasion, dealing with it badly. Which, in turn, means that they have to be Obliviated.'

'We have a hand held one,' Tosh offered. 'I was fiddling around with the tech one day. Slow day at the office, nothing on the news networks. I found a small artefact that could send out a beam that covered a small specific area. We've never needed it because the one hooked up to the rift does a good enough job, but I'd be happy to show you it.'

**8.55 a.m. Tuesday May 19th.**

 

'Ladies.' Hermione, Pansy and Ginny all jumped a little as they heard Madam Penhaligon's voice and the ominous clicking of her heels on the floorboards. 'Please enter the office.'

Pansy exhaled sharply, and smoothed an imaginary crease out of her robe. 'Come on. Let's go and face the music.'

Ginny smiled tightly and brushed a cat hair off her shoulder. 'Music? Only if you call being told you have to go and spend the next three weeks organising the store cupboards music.'

'Store cupboards are better than being fired. Maybe.' Hermione giggled a little nervously and stepped towards the door.

'Finally,' Madam Penhaligon grated. 'I would say that it is a pleasure to have all three of you in my office, at nine o'clock on a Tuesday morning, but I would be lying.' She pushed her chair back from the desk and gestured impatiently at the chairs placed against the walls. 'Well, do stop standing there and sit down. You're giving me a crick in my neck.'

'Yes, Madam Penhaligon.' Pansy, Ginny and Hermione all looked at each other as they chorused a reply.

'Oh good grief, ladies.' Madam Penhaligon smiled slightly. 'We are not at school. That made me feel like Minerva.' She leaned forward and steepled her hands on the desk. 'I have read your reports. They were, shall we say, interesting?'

'It was an interesting day,' Ginny proffered and raised her eyebrows. 'The reports are as tame as we could make them.'

'Yes, well.' Madam Penhaligon chuckled slightly as she unrolled the scroll. 'Anything which involves Jack Harkness is going to be different.'

'You know him?' Hermione asked.

'There is no need to look so shocked.' Madam Penhaligon stood up and walked round her desk. 'That pesky man has a habit of getting involved in things which are none of his business.' She leaned back against her desk. 'We had a few spates of people being drawn towards Cardiff in the first war. It turned out that his damn organisation were responsible for it. Trying to fight magic with technology indeed. No consideration for the consequences.'

'Right,' Pansy said. 'So why are we here?' She crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. 'Our reports have obviously told you nothing that you didn't already know, it would seem we are not in trouble, and I have a multitude of things I am supposed to be doing right now.'

Madam Penhaligon put down the scroll and cleared her throat. 'You are here because I need an assurance from all three of you that what happened yesterday will not leave this room or these reports. I do not wish to send you to be checked out at St. Mungo's. Not only do they take an absolute age checking for signs of people having gone doolally, but I refuse to sit through another of those ridiculous training days. However, we have an arrangement with Torchwood and it cannot be violated.'

Hermione sat forward a little. 'Okay, but what about the cerebral dampener? It's just that it's a really nice piece of technology. Which would come in very handy.'

'Yes,' Madam Penhaligon said. 'We've been discussing that within the department. We have all read the report and the conclusions drawn about its relative efficiency when compared with Obliviation, and we do think that it has its merits and, possibly, a place within the apparatus used.'

'But?' Pansy said, arching an eyebrow. 'Come on, that's a classic lead up to a but.'

'Unfortunately, for the moment, yes.' Madam Penhaligon smiled apologetically. 'The research team will continue working on it, but for now there will be no usage of it. If, in the future, they can find a way to make it appear to be a magical development then the situation will be reassessed.'

'Of course,' Hermione said tightly. 'Why not make use of something helpful? That would be ridiculous. It'll take years to go through research and development. In the meantime we'll just be filling the wards of St. Mungo's with entirely preventable ailments.'

'Welcome to the world of the Ministry, Hermione.' Madam Penhaligon shrugged. 'There is nothing I can do about it. When we first had contact with Torchwood it was made very clear that there would have to be strict rules concerning that contact and anything that might arise from it. Unfortunately this is part of those rules.'

'Right. Of course,' Ginny said as she stood up. 'I assume there is something you wish us to sign? I don't mean to be rude, but I have a meeting scheduled for quarter to ten and some preparation to do for it.'

'Not at all, Ginevra.' Madam Penhaligon walked back around her desk and dug out a scroll. 'This is the standard form for dealing with Torchwood and its associated personnel. There is nothing radically different in it than in the standard secrecy forms. You are more than welcome to read it all the way through, and get it back to me later, however.'

'No, it's fine,' Ginny said as she dug her quill out of a cloak pocket. 'I'll sign it now. No sense in delaying it, and all that muddled legal language favoured by the Secrets lot will only give me a headache.'

Hermione and Pansy both stood up and dug their quills out. 'Even if we take it and read it, we wouldn't be able to get anything changed, would we?'

Madam Penhaligon shook her head. 'No. Not a chance. I'm sorry.'

'No you're not,' Pansy said as she signed. 'You're not sorry at all. You like knowing this secret. Secrets are power.'

Hermione leaned over the desk to sign her name, and after tapping the excess ink off her quill put it back in her pocket. 'Thank you Madam Penhaligon. I'll see you at the department meeting on Friday.'

'I look forward to it, Hermione,' Madam Penhaligon said as she stood and watched them leave the office.

**9 p.m. Tuesday 18th May.**

 

'Fucking Secrets Department,' Pansy said as she put her glass down on the table. 'We finally discover something useful on one of these Circe-forsaken trips and we can't do anything with it.'

'Oh, I wouldn't say that,' Ginny said, grinning a little wickedly.

'I would.' Hermione refilled their glasses, and stared grumpily into hers. 'We signed the bloody secrecy form and Research and Development have got their grubby little hands on the dampener. All we have is the memory of a very strange day and the knowledge that we're putting people in hospital when we don't need to.'

'Ah,' Ginny said as she swallowed some wine. 'Research and Development have one dampener. I have the other.'

Pansy sat forward and reached for her glass. 'What do you mean you have the other?'

Ginny turned to look at Pansy. 'What did it sound like? Shall I repeat it in Czech? I have the other dampener.'

Hermione sat up and grinned. 'That's what you were talking to Toshiko about in the corner. I knew there was something going on.'

'Actually,' Ginny smiled, 'it isn't what I was talking to Tosh about at all. Gwen gave me the dampener.'

Pansy narrowed her eyes. 'You're blushing. I've only seen you blush like that once before and it was when that witch in the Herbology lab asked you out.' She took a sip of wine and set her glass back down on the table. 'You have a date.'

Ginny grinned. 'I do. I have a date, and we have the dampener. I'm sure that George will be able to figure out how it works and make another one.'

'Three cheers to you!' Hermione exclaimed and held up her glass.


End file.
